When Playbrush got in touch, my initial thoughts were that is was a fantastic idea. I have a 5 year old daughter, she’s fairly good at cleaning her teeth but there has been many times where shes rushed, or she’s not been in the mood. I’m sure there are plenty of children like my daughter & plenty that are not, and do not want to brush their teeth. The Playbrush could solve that problem. We got one sent over so let’s take a look.

Set Up & Options

There are two toothbrushes available, either manual or powered. Which you choose, is down to you or your child and in this instance, I went for a manual brush. With the manual option, you get a toothbrush, plus the ‘smart’ part of the system, a charging cable and a plastic hanging case, for your smart device. With the manual system, you can either use the provided toothbrush or your own, as the smart part is detachable.

To set up, you need to insert the toothbrush into the rubber plastic casing, and ensure you really wiggle it in, right to the bottom. At the end of this rubbery plastic section, is the smart device, which detaches from the rubber section. You need to take this smart section and charge it find the provided USB cable. Once fully charged, insert the smart part back into the toothbrush and move onto the app.

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The Playbrush app is available on iOS & Android and is free to download. Once installed, you have to set up a free account and then pair the brush to your device, via the power of Bluetooth. Set up is detailed through the app, it’s very straight forward and takes a matter of minutes.

To use the toothbrush, you need to load up the app, wait for the two to pair and then select a game of your choice. There are currently 4 free games available, in age ranges of 3+ & 6+. Once selected, the game will begin and depending on what game you select, you progress through the game by cleaning your teeth. The toothbrush recognises your brushing movements, up/down/left/right and when doing so, something will happen in game. One that my daughter liked was the painting game, where a picture would be painted when she cleaned her teeth correctly. Also via the app, you can teach your child how to clean their teeth, which I would recommend as it teaches them the brushing movements required for the games.

Using The Toothbrush

My daughter struggled at first as her brushing wasn’t heavy enough and the game wouldn’t pick up the movement. After a couple of attempts, it got better as she knew how to play the game. I also tried it out and it worked quite well for me. The games are short and sweet, timed at 2 minutes or less and a score is recorded so you can compete against yourself the following day. It also monitors duration, brush positioning and regularity.

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Connectivity between the brush and my phone was mostly ok, but it did lose connection on the odd occasion. Remember I said there were four free games? Well to unlock the rest, you need to purchase a subscription. That subscription will set you back between £12.99 per quarter, £39.99 per year or £69.99 every two years. With those subscriptions, you get a restock of toothbrushes (8 per year), access to the additional games, statistics and a reward scheme.

Verdict

The manual option retails at £19.99, with the electric being £24.99. The toothbrush itself is very basic and I’d probably buy something better next time and insert it into the rubber base. Overall it works well but how long will your child’s attention remain on 1 or 2 games? Mine lasted about a week and then she got bored. I’m not a fan of having to subscribe to unlock additional features.

I like the idea and it’s a great way of getting your children excited about oral hygiene, but I think the novelty will wear off, unless you’re willing to subscribe. For more information, check out the Playbrush website.